A rack and pinion assembly includes a housing with a first bore for rotatably receiving the pinion and a second bore for movably receiving the rack. In order to maintain the rack fully engaged with the pinion, a support member is slidably engageable with the rack and biased toward the pinion to yieldably resist separation between the rack and the pinion.
The housing includes a boss with a bore for receiving the support member. A plug closing the boss bore cooperates with an adjuster assembly to take up clearances due to wear between the rack and the pinion. Consequently, the housing requires modification to make room for the support member and its adjuster assembly. In addition, a resilient member biasing the support member toward the rack is disposed within the boss of the bore or between the support member and the second bore so that the housing in either case requires modification to accommodate the resilient member and/or adjuster assembly.